Cutting and feeding mechanism for printing-presses



3 Sheets-Sheet 1.

(.No Model.)

W-. SGOTT. CUTTING AND FEEDING MECHANISM FOR PRINTING PRESSES. No.444,137.

Patented Jan. 6, 1891.

w: Numus pa'rzns cu, Puma-mam. WASHINGTON, 04 c.

(No Model.) 3' SheetsSheet 2.

W. SCOTT. CUTTING AND FEEDING MECHANISM FOR PRINTING PRESSES.

- No. 444,137. Patented Jan.6,1891.

.(No Model.) 3 Skew-Sheet 3.

- w. SCOTT.

CUTTING AND FEEDING MECHANISM FOR PRINTING PRESSES.

No. 444,137. Patented Jan. 6, 1891.

lillll i UNITED STATES PATENT EEICE.

IVALTER SCOTT, OF PLAIN FIELD, NE\V JERSEY.

CUTTING AND FEEDING MECHANISM FOR PRlNTl'NG-PRESSES.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 444,187, dated January6, 1891 Application filed June 19, 1886 Serial No. 205,693. (No model.)

To all whmn it may concern:

Be it known that I, WALTER SCOTT, of Plainfield, in the county of Unionand State of New Jersey, have invented an Improvement in Cutting andFeeding Mechanism for Printing-Presses, of which the following is aspecification.

In printing-presses in which the paper is supplied from a roll or webthe paper is cut off into sheets and printed and these sheets havegenerally been of uniform length; but in some instances the paper hasbeen fed in by separate rollers that are moved at the proper speed, sothat the sheet can be out of the desired length.

In my present improvements the paper is fed in by independent rollersdriven by changeable gears so that the speed of the same in proportionto the speed of the other parts of the press can be varied; and thecutting-cylinders do not measure the paper, the paper, passing freelythrough between them, and the cutters act once for each revolution ofthe press to separate the sheet from the web. If no other provision weremade, the cutter when coming into contact with the web of paper might betraveling faster or slower than the paper, and hence such paper might betorn or injured by the cutter. I therefore provide for varying the speedof the cutter when acting upon the paper in order that such cutter maybe moving at the same speed, or nearly so, as the paper. By myimprovement I am enabled to cut off longer or shorter sheets accordingto the size of the form printed from, so that the press is adapted tothe printing of different sizes of sheets, which is a great convenience,especially in job-work.

My present improvements may be used with a flat bed for the types orwith a cylinder for types or stereotypes, or it may be used in a pressin which both sides of the sheet are printed in succession.

In the drawings, Figure l is'an elevation representing the improveddevices and the connections from the impression-cylinder. Fig. 2 is anend elevation of the two side frames and parts connected therewith. Fig.3 is an elevation partially in section of the coupling devicesfor thecutting-cylinder. Fig. I is an elevation of the driving and eccentricgears, the coupling being in section at the line ac, and Fig. 5 is apartial plan viewat one end of the cutting and feeding cylinders, theupper cutting and feeding cylinders and also the upper tape-rollersbeing removed.

A portion of the frame of the machine is represented atA and theimpression-cylinder is shown at B.

The roll of paper is represented at C, and the paper passes off from thesame between the feeding-rollers 2 and 3 and between the cutting-rollers4 and 5, that separate the sheets from the web; and there are sets ofendless belts 6 and 7 passing around the pulleys or rollers 8'9 10 ll12,for conveying the sheet to the impression-cylinder B, and I4: and aretightening-rollers for the belts.

The shaft of the feed-roller 2 is preferably in fixed bearings upon theframe A, and the shaft of the roller 3 is preferably supported bybearings in slides on the frame A, there being springs or other devicesto keep the roller 3 toward the roller 2 and cause the said rollers tograsp the paper and feed the web along at the same surfacespeed as therollers travel.

In order to give motion to these rollers 2 and 3, I make use of agear-wheel 20, that receives motion from any otherconvenient portion ofthe press. I have shown the same as in gear with the wheel 21 .over theshaft 22, and this shaft 22 revolves once for each revolution of theimpression-cylinder B, the gearwheels 23 24c 25 26 27 28 beingrepresented in Fig.1 as communicating motion from theimpression-cylinder B to the shaft 22.

The pinion 30 is upon a gudgeon upon the sector 31, the center of thesector being the shaft of the gear 20, and this pinion 3O gears into awheel 33 on the shaft of the roller 2. By thisarrangement I am able tochange the gear 33 and put upon the shaft of the roller 2 a larger or asmaller gear and adjust the sector 31 to bring the pinion 30 into theproper place for gearing into this wheel By the aforesaid arrangement Iam able to pass through bet-ween the feed-rollers 2 and 3 a greater or aless length of paper for each revolution of the impression-cylinderBthat is to say, if the gear 33 is large the speed of the roller 2 willbe slower than it will when the gear 33 is small and it is onlynecessary to of papereach complete revolution of the press. Thecutting-cylinders -l and 5 do not touch each other and the sheet passesfreely through between them, and it is preferable to make use of thebridge-bars to lead the paper from between the feed-rollers 2 and 3along and between the cutting-cylinders 4 and 5, and from these thepaper passes over the bridge-bars it and between the sets of bolts 6 and7 that carry the sheet to the grippers 42 of the 11m pression-cylinder;and I remark that the sets of belts b and Tshould travel at the samesurface-speed as the impression-cylimler B; but the distance between theset of rollers S and 0 and the set of rollers 10 and II is as great asthe lengthof the longest sheet. Hence the sheet will pass in between thebolts (3 and 7, and will be carried forward by them, and when theadvancing end of the sheet reaches the rollers 10 and 11, such sheetwill be nipped and moved at the same speed as the belts; but this willoccur after the sheet has been cut off the web of paper, as hereinafterdescribed.

It will be understood that the sheet must be separated from the web eachrevolution of the press, and hence that the shaft l3 of the roller 5must revolve once for each revolution of the shaft 22, but if these twoshafts were geared together by ordinary gear-wheels the cutter l5 mightbe moving slower than the paper when a long sheet was passing in, orfaster than. the paper when a short sheet was passing in. To overcomethis difficulty I connect the shafts 22 and 43 by the eccentricgears 50and 51. These gears are the same size, so that the shafts 22 and 43 makethe same number of revolutions. The shaft 22, however, runs at a uniformspeed, while the shaft 43 receives an accelerated and retardedmovcment-that is to say, when the portion of the gear 50 that isfarthest from theshaft 43 is in gear with the portion of the gear 51that is nearest to the shaft 22 the shaft 43 will receive a retarded orslower movement, and when the portion of the gear 50 that is nearest tothe shaft t3 is in gear with the portion of the wheel 51 that isfarthest from the shaft 22 the rotary movement of the shaft 43 will beaccelerated. If, new, the gear 50 is adjusted upon its shaft: 4-) inrelation to the position of the cutter 45, said outter 45, at the timeit acts upon thepaper, may be moving at the same speed as the paper, ornearly so, and hence make the proper separation of the sheetfrom the webwithout tearing or injuring such paper. The eccentricgcars may be eithercircular or elliptical.

I remark that the cutting-rollers 4- and 5 are geared together by thegear-wheels 5t and 55, so that the two rollers move together, and thecutter may be within the rolleror cylinder 5; but usually it is mostconvenient to place the cutter 45 in the roller 4, and provide in theroller 5 the slot or groove into which such cutter 45 passes.

Any desired means maybe made use of for adjusting the position of theeccentric-gear in relation to the cutter 45. A convenient device isrepresented in the drawings, the

same consisting in a h uh or disk 60, keyed.

upon the shaft 43, around which hub and disk is the eccentric-gear 50,and there are segmental slots in the disk 00, through which the boltstil pass into the eccentric-gear 50, and there may be divisions upon thedisk and upon the adjacent parts of the wheel 50 for facilitating theadjustment of the positions of the parts for cutting oil": thedesignated lengths of sheets.

The eccentric gear-wheel 51 is preferably attached permanently upon theshaft 2:2. and it is often desirable to revolve the hand-wheel 6taud thegear-wheels 21, 20, 30, and 33, so as to draw in the paper between therollers? and to enter the paper ready to starting the press, and at thesame time the cutting-cylinders at and 5 should be revolved by this samehand-wheel til, so as to cut off the advancingend 0f the web of paper atthe proper place. In order to do this without turning all the otherparts of the press I provide the locking-pins 66, passing through thegearwheel 23 into the eccentric-gear 51, and there is a sliding disk (37around the shaft 92 to receive the hook-ended heads of the pins 66, andthe rods 69, attached to the disk 67, pass through the hand-wheel (it,and are provided with a head or follower 70, which the workman can graspand puil away from thehandwheel St to move the disk 67 and draw out thepins (56 and allow the shaft .32 and handwheel (it to be rotated withoutturning the wheel 23. Hence this shaft 22 will turn the feed-rollers 2and 3 and the cutting-cylinders t and 5 by the gearing that is connectedto said shaft 22 and thereby draw in the end of the web of paper and cutthe same off square, and the loose end piece can be drawn out frombetween the bolts 0 and '7and the paper left in the proper position forstarting the press, and when the train of gearing from theimpression-cylinder has revolved the gear 23 around to the proper pointthe spring 71 will move the disk 67 and project the pins 66 into theholes in the wheel 51. and connect the parts, so that the shaft 22 andfeeding and cutting rollers will receive their motion in harmony withthe rest of the press. I remark that the two pins 66 should be atdifferent distances from the center of the shaft 22, so that the lockingaction can only occur at the proper place.

It is necessary to adjust the gearing to insure the end of the sheetreaching the grippers 42 at the proper time. To effect this I make thegear-wheel 23 in two parts, connected together bybolts, the hub portionhaving an undercut face-groove 73, containing the heads of the bolts 74:that pass through the rim portion of the said wheel. By slackening thesebolts 74 the shaft 22 can be turned by the hand-wheel 64 and therelative positions of the parts so adjusted that the end of the sheetwill reach the grippers 42 at the right time, after which the nutsof thebolts 7 4 are tightened. It is not necessary to loosen these bolts 74:,except when adjusting; the parts to bring the cutting devices into theirproper position to the grippers.

Myimprovement in regulating the speed of the paper is available with thepress even in cases when the speed of the cutting-knife is not varied,assuch cutting-knife maybe moving slower than the paper without injury, asthe action of the cutter is only momentary.

More than one cutter may be used 011 the cutting-cylinder, and thecutters may be of any desired charactersuch, for instance, as a rapidlyendwise-moving shear operated momentarily at the proper time.

My devices for feeding the paper and cutting it off into sheets of thedesired size may be used for cutting up sheets from a web whether thesame are printed or not.

The bearings for the rollerll should be adj ustable, so as to properlynip the paper and move the same as it passes with the tapes between therollers 10 and 11.

The rollers S and 9 should be sufficiently separated for the advancingend of each sheet to pass in freely between the tapes 6 and '7, and theroller 44, above the tapes, causes such tapes to come together at theopposite sides of the sheet, so as to move the sheet along between thetapes as rapidly as the paper is supplied, and the sheet is carried atthe speed of the tapes as soon as it is separated from the web. Theclutch that separates the feeding and cutting mechanism from the pressalso allows the printing devices to be run or moved separately from thepaper in inking up the form or in adjusting the parts I claim as myinvention 1. The combination, in a printing-press, of rollers forfeedingin the Web of paper, outting-cylinders that act to cut the paperbut not to feed the same, ranges of belts for carrying the paper to theprinting mechanism, gearing for varying the speed of the feedingrollers,and eccentric-gearing for giving motion to the cutting-cylinders and forregulating the speed of motion of the cutter when acting upon the paper,substantially as set forth.

2. The revolving shaft 22, changeable gearing and feed-rollers 2 and 3for feeding in the paper, the cutting-cylinders 4t and 5, theeccentric-gears 50 and 51 for communicating motion to thecutting-cylinders, and the adjustable connections, substantially asspecified, for varying the positions of the eccentricgear in relation tothe cutter, substantially as set forth.

3. The combination, with the cutting-cylinders, of the eccentric-gears50 and 51, mechanism for adjusting the gear 50 in relation to thecutter, the shaft 22 and hand-Wheel for moving the same, the gear-wheel23, and a clutch or coupling pins for disconnecting the gear 23 from theshaft 22 and thereby allowing the cutting-cylinders to be revolved byhand, substantially as set forth.

4. The combination, with the cutting-cylinders, of the shaft 22 andgearing for connecting the same with the cutting-cylinders, the train ofgearing from the press, and the gear-wheel 23, made in two parts andhaving a rim that is adjustable in relation tothe other part of thewheel for adjusting the position of the cutter in order that the end ofthe sheet may reach the impression-eylinder at the proper time,substantially as set forth.

5. The combination, with printing mechanism adapted to print upondifferent-sized sheets, and the conveying belts for the sheets, of afeeding mechanism, substantially as specified, having a variable speedfor supplying the proper length of paper, a cutter for separating theweb into sheets, gearing, substantially as specified, for varying thespeed of the cutter to correspond, or nearly so, at the time of cuttingto the speed of the paper, and mechanism for adjusting the position ofthe cutter in relation to the printing mechanism, substantially as setforth.

6. The combination, with rollers for feeding paper from a web and a pairof revolving cutting-rolls, of changeable gearing connecting the cuttingand feeding rolls for varying the speed of the paper and the length ofthe sheet, and variable gear-in g for regulating the movement of thecutter, so as to approximate the speed of the paper at the time of thecut, substantially as specified.

7. The combination, with the impressioncylinder and thecutting-cylinders for separating the web of paper into sheets, ofgearing for connecting the cutting and printing mechanism, and anautomatic clutch for connecting the parts at the right point after beingdisconnected for moving either part of the pressseparately,substantially as specified.

8. In a printing-machine, the combination of rollers for feeding the webof paper, a rotary cutting-knife that acts to cut or perforate thepaper, ranges of belts for carrying the paper to the printing mechanism,gearing for varying the speed of the feeding-rollers, andeccentric-gearing for giving motion to the cutting-knife and forregulating the speed of the cutter when act-ing on the paper,substantially as set forth.

9. The combination, with the printing mechanism, rolls for supplying aweb of paper from a roll, and a cutting mechanism, of changeable gearingfor varying the speed of the feeding-rolls, gearing for driving thecutting mechanism and adjustable gearing for connecting the cutting andprinting mechanism, and an index or indicating divisions upon orconnected with the gearing to aid in adjusting the parts to adapt thepress to different lengths of sheets, substantially as set forth.

10. The combination, with the printing mechanism and rollers forsupplying the paper, of gearing for varying the speed of the feed-rollsand the length of paper supplied, a cutter for perforating or separatingthe paper, a train of gearing between the cutting mechanism and theprinting mechanism having a twopart; wheel, and a clamping device forholding the parts of the gearing after they have been adjusted to bringthe advancing end of the sheet properly to the printing mechanism.

11. The combination, with the printing mechanism and rollers forsupplying the paper, ot' gearing for varying the speed of the feed-rollsand the length of paper supplied, a cutter for perforating or separatingthe paper, a train of gearing between the cutting mechanism and theprinting mechanism, and a two-part wheel havingan annular-groove andclamping-bolts for holding the parts of the gearing after they have beenadjusted to bring the advancing end of the sheet properly to theprinting mechanism.

12. The combination, with the printing mechanism and the rollers forsupplying the paper, of gearing for varying the speed of the feed-rollsand the length of paper supplied, a cutter for perforating or separatingthe paper, a train of gearing between the cutting mechanism and theprinting mechanism, and clutch mechanism for separating the cutting andfeeding mechanism from the printing mechanism when entering a fresh webof paper and for reconnecting the parts in their proper relativepositions to bring the advancing end of the sheet properly to theprinting mechanism.

13. The combination, with the cutting-cyl inders, of the train ofgearing from thepress, and the gear-wheel 23, made in two parts andhavinga rim that is adjustable in relation to the other part of thewheel for adjusting the position of the eutterin order that the end ofthe sheet may reach the impression-cylinder at the proper time,substantially as set forth.

ll. The combination, with a printing-press and the feeding-rolls andvariable gearing for feeding different lengths of sheets, of a cutterand gearing for giving to such cutter a faster speed in one portion ofits revolution than another, and adjustable gearing for causing thecutter to act on the paper when its speed approxin'lates the speed ofthe paper, substantially as specified.

15. The combination, with the impressioncylinder in a printing-press, offeeding and cutting mechanism and gearing connecting the cuttingmechanism with the impressioncylinder, and a clutch adapted to connectat one place only in its revolution, for insuring the proper position ofthe sheet to the printing mechanism after the feeding and cuttingdevices have been moved separately from the press in entering the web,sul'istantially as specified.

Signed by me this 10th day of June, A. l). 1880'.

WALTER SCOT Witnesses:

GEO. T. IPINQKNEY, Wnmnut G. Mor'r.

